Improvements to the detection and analysis of external surges in the North Sea

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Authors

  • Alexander Böhme
  • Birgit Gerkensmeier
  • Benedikt Bratz
  • Clemens Krautwald
  • Olaf Müller
  • Nils Goseberg
  • Gabriele Gönnert

Research Organisations

External Research Organisations

  • Agency for Roads, Bridges and Waters Hamburg (LSBG)
  • Technische Universität Braunschweig
  • Universität Hamburg
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Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1947-1966
Number of pages20
JournalNatural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
Volume23
Issue number5
Publication statusPublished - 26 May 2023

Abstract

External surges are a key component of extreme water levels in the North Sea. Caused by low-pressure cells over the North Atlantic and amplified at the continental shelf, they can drive water-level changes of more than 1m at the British, Dutch and German coasts. This work describes an improved and semi-automated method to detect external surges in sea surface time histories. The method is used to analyse tide gauge and meteorological records from 1995 to 2020 and to supplement an existing dataset of external surges, which is used in the determination of design heights of coastal protection facilities. Furthermore, external surges are analysed with regard to their annual and decadal variability, corresponding weather conditions, and their interaction with storm surges in the North Sea. A total of 33% of the 101 external surges occur within close succession of each other, leading to the definition of serial external surges, in which one or more external surges follow less than 72h after the previous external surge. These serial events tend to occur more often during wind-induced storm surges. Moreover, the co-occurrence with a storm surge increases the height of an external surge by 15% on average, highlighting the importance of the consideration of combined events in coastal protection strategies. The improved dataset and knowledge about serial external surges extend the available basis for coastal protection in the North Sea region.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cite this

Improvements to the detection and analysis of external surges in the North Sea. / Böhme, Alexander; Gerkensmeier, Birgit; Bratz, Benedikt et al.
In: Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, Vol. 23, No. 5, 26.05.2023, p. 1947-1966.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Böhme, A, Gerkensmeier, B, Bratz, B, Krautwald, C, Müller, O, Goseberg, N & Gönnert, G 2023, 'Improvements to the detection and analysis of external surges in the North Sea', Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 1947-1966. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1947-2023
Böhme, A., Gerkensmeier, B., Bratz, B., Krautwald, C., Müller, O., Goseberg, N., & Gönnert, G. (2023). Improvements to the detection and analysis of external surges in the North Sea. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 23(5), 1947-1966. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1947-2023
Böhme A, Gerkensmeier B, Bratz B, Krautwald C, Müller O, Goseberg N et al. Improvements to the detection and analysis of external surges in the North Sea. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. 2023 May 26;23(5):1947-1966. doi: 10.5194/nhess-23-1947-2023
Böhme, Alexander ; Gerkensmeier, Birgit ; Bratz, Benedikt et al. / Improvements to the detection and analysis of external surges in the North Sea. In: Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. 2023 ; Vol. 23, No. 5. pp. 1947-1966.
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